Stop Calling My Patients Targets

One of my all-time favorite comic strips was Gary Larson’s Far Side. Larson’s morbid sense of humor often caught me off guard and caused an eruption of a belly laugh (much to my wife’s embarrassment).

Larson often used surreal characters to illustrate life’s ironies and absurdities. One of my favorites is Hal, a crossbreed of a deer, elk, or moose – no one is quite sure.

In one scene, two, let’s call them elk, are standing in the forest. Hal has a large red and white target clearly displayed across his chest. The other elk says to Hal, “Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.”(click here to check out the cartoon)

Every time a person is referred to as a target market this image of Hal pops into my mind.

Patients Are People Not Targets

How would you feel if you were Hal?

I feel like I’m being shot at whenever I get robocalls on my cell phone. It’s more than an annoyance it’s personal.

Whoever is behind the calls doesn’t respect my time, doesn’t respect me. People don’t like random interruptions to their daily flow.

If you manage a small clinic or participate in hospital marketing programs, you’ve probably heard of identifying your target market.

Simply put, marketers put a similar group of people into a target market in order to sell them a specific service or product.

Pretty harmless, right?

Regardless if you’re using a shotgun or a rifle you’re still shooting at people if you use this marketing approach.

Who’s Driving The Bus?

As competition for referrals heats up, more and more healthcare organizations are becoming marketing-driven.

Marketing-driven organizations are data-driven. They’re slick and shiny. Their primary focus is on the bottom line. They’re focused on the maximizing productivity and reimbursements. They’re about the numbers.

There’s nothing wrong with getting the word out and communicating a clear message. It makes sense not to sell to ‘everyone’. But marketing or making a profit shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat.